Welcome to White Oak Farm!
If we won’t save any money raising our own meat chickens, why are we doing it?
Raising your own Freedom Rangers may not be less expensive than buying organic chicken in the grocery store, order online or buy locally. Your cost to raise meat birds definitely depends upon the cost of feed available in your area. They eat a lot and it typically takes between 10 and 12 weeks to grow to a desirable harvest weight of 7-8 lbs.
The Freedom Ranger chicks eat a lot but do grow very fast!
We are quickly coming to the conclusion that if they keep up this rate of eating, that we will not save much money raising our own meat chickens. lol They eat and drink sooo much at one month old but have also grown sooo much in such a short time!
All of our chickens have access to fresh green pasture grasses every day as well as their feed. But the chick feed available in our area is not as inexpensive as we had hoped so we won’t save much money, if any, raising our own meat birds. So I’ll tell you why we are going to do this anyway in a minute.
The Freedom Ranger chicks eat 7x more than the laying hens
One month old Freedom Ranger chicks eat a lot!
The 30 meat bird chicks are now 8 weeks old and are eating 13 lbs. of feed every day! WOW! That’s a half pound of feed per chick each day! For comparison, our 13 full-grown laying hens only eat that much in about a week!
The 3 Reasons Why We Are Raising Our Own Meat Birds
Living A Good Life
We are really happy knowing that these chickens have been well cared for and had the best life we can provide for them. This alone would be reason enough and would make raising our own meat chickens very rewarding, but that’s not all.
Organic, pasture-raised meat for a year
We know exactly what our chickens have been fed every day! They are being fed an organic, wholesome diet which should make for wonderful, tasty meat.
We care about what we put into our bodies and are being more mindful of what we eat. Martin and I have found through experience with over eating and making some unhealthy food choices over the years makes us feel awful and puts extra weight on us. We’ve found that consuming simpler, more organic foods helps us to feel better and healthier. We hope by eating better foods that we can enjoy a more disease-free and possibly longer lives.
A Year of Pandemic and Meat Shortages
The Pandemic may be drawing to an end but there is still a lot of uncertainty in our food supply as well as a variety of problems with the U.S. meat industry. It’s very reassuring to know that we will definitely have meat in our freezer for a good long time.
Martin and I are also learning animal husbandry skills that we can utilize again at any point in the future to raise more meat as we need it. Baby animals and hatching eggs are somewhat easy to come by if you know a farmer or live near a large coop as we do.
Growing, Growing, Gone!
We have been happy with our Freedom Ranger chicks. They have been lively and active since we got them. Some of them are friendly and enjoy being petted. Raising them has been a good experience to date and we love watching these chicks grow by leaps and bounds every day. We can’t wait to see just how big they are in a few more weeks!
150 lbs of Organic, Pasture-raised Meat
These 30 organic, pasture-raised chickens should provide about 5 lbs per bird for a total of 150 lbs. of dressed out healthy meat for the two of us for about a year! We are looking at the week of July 12 for an approximate harvest date. They will be 11 weeks old then.
“The Hen Shall-Lay”
A Farmhouse Style Coop
Check out our YouTube video HERE where we show how we move our mobile Farmhouse-style chicken coop weekly!
We named our main coop “The Hen Shall-Lay”. This Farmhouse chicken coop is for our laying hens here at White Oak Farm.
Daisy’s Story
A Winter Hawk Attack!
This is Daisy, below, our Sapphire Gem hen that was unfortunately attacked by a hawk the day after New year’s Day. She fortunately survived but was in shock for 2 days. It took her a month for her wounds to heal completely so we could introduce her back into the flock.
A Pecking Order is a Real Thing
She has never regained her place in the pecking order that she had before her attack and some of the dominant hens unfortunately still pick on her and chase her around. She also lost some sight in her left eye and about 1/2 her body weight. The poor little girl has had a rough go of it.
Reintroducing Daisy to the Flock
I had to partition off a small part of the coop for her so the others could get used to her again. I included one nest box which she started using about every other day. I also included part of a roost bar in her section so she could be right up beside the other chickens on the roost.
A Big Cuddle Bug
She became very attached to me since being nursed back to health and receiving extra brushing, treats and cuddle time. She still loves having her head and face stroked like, just like cats do, and she loves being brushed and held.
No Rooster, No Baby Chicks!
Daisy has now been broody for a whole month! That means she’s constantly trying to sit on a pile of eggs in the nest boxes to hatch them and have baby chicks! She has been so persistent about staying in the nest boxes as much as she can when we aren’t around and makes all sorts of little motherly clucks. It’s completely adorable but futile since we don’t have a rooster so none of our eggs have been fertilized. I wish she could understand me when I tell her that. lol
Take a Break!
Martin and I try to take her out of the nest box at least twice a day to get exercise, eat and drink because she rarely does it on her own and has lost some weight again. I’ve also been trying to pick up the eggs several times a day so she doesn’t have any to sit on and taking her out of the box and putting her on the roost at night. She doesn’t like any of this, but it’s not deterring her either. I really hope she stops being broody soon.
Keep Up With Us Here On The Blog
Be sure to join us again soon right here at the White Oak Farm Blog from Stanfords Modern Homestead for pics and updates on how big the chicks and piglets are growing, Daisy and all the chickens!
Truly
“Happiness blooms from within!” – Author Unknown
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